Statistical quality assessment of fingerprints
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method to analyze a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint of a human subject, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
- receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to the human fingerprint of the human subject;
determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image;
adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion;
segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and
for each of the subsets;
determining a measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset; and
based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories;
assessing an overall acceptability of the fingerprint image by analyzing at least one of the plurality of categories, and requiring capture of another fingerprint image from the human subject if the overall acceptability of the fingerprint image is at or below predetermined criteria.
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Abstract
The present invention relates generally to human fingerprints. More specifically the present invention relates to assessing the quality of a fingerprint image. An assessment is made by analyzing characteristics of image sub-regions. For example, the characteristics may include statistics that are associated with a sub-region. If a sub-region is found to have unacceptable characteristics, it can be modified through a morphological operation to compensate for the unacceptable characteristics.
52 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method to analyze a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint of a human subject, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to the human fingerprint of the human subject; determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image; adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion; segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and for each of the subsets; determining a measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset; and based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories; assessing an overall acceptability of the fingerprint image by analyzing at least one of the plurality of categories, and requiring capture of another fingerprint image from the human subject if the overall acceptability of the fingerprint image is at or below predetermined criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method to analyze a fingerprint image, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint; determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image; adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion; segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; for each of the subsets; determining a measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset; and based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories; determining which of the subsets correspond to a fingerprint core, and weighting those subsets that correspond to the fingerprint core more significantly relative to those subsets that do not correspond to the fingerprint core; and assessing an overall acceptability of the fingerprint image by analyzing at least one of the plurality of categories.
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16. A method to analyze a fingerprint image, the fingerprint image including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving a fingerprint image corresponding to a human fingerprint; determining image distortion associated with the fingerprint image; adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion; segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; for each of the subsets; determining a statistical measure associated with fingerprint ridges and fingerprint valleys in the subset, wherein the statistical measure comprises at least a standard deviation of ridge thickness and a standard deviation of valley thickness; and based on the statistical measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method of determining whether to accept a first fingerprint image or to require capture of a second fingerprint image, the first fingerprint and second fingerprint images comprising a representation of a same human fingerprint, the fingerprint including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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determining an orientation of the first fingerprint image; adjusting the fingerprint image according to the orientation; determining statistical values that are associated with at least some of the ridges and valleys; comparing the determined statistical values against predetermined acceptance criteria; and determining whether to accept the first fingerprint image based at least on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method to analyze image data corresponding to a human fingerprint, the human fingerprint including fingerprint ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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receiving image data corresponding to a human fingerprint; determining image distortion associated with the image data; adjusting the fingerprint image to compensate for the image distortion; segmenting the fingerprint image into at least a plurality of subsets; and for each of the subsets; determining a measure associated with the human fingerprint in the subset; and based on the measure assigning the subset to at least one of a plurality of categories; determining acceptability of the human fingerprint at least through use of or reference to at least one of the plurality of categories, and requiring recapture of the human fingerprint if the acceptability of the human fingerprint is at or below predetermined criteria. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A method of determining whether to accept a first fingerprint image or to require capture of a second fingerprint image, the first fingerprint and second fingerprint images comprising a same representation of a human fingerprint, the fingerprint including ridges and valleys, said method comprising:
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determining an orientation of the first fingerprint image; adjusting the fingerprint image according to the orientation; determining statistical values that are associated with at least a portion of the human fingerprint; comparing the determined statistical values against predetermined acceptance criteria; and determining whether to accept the first fingerprint image based at least in part on the comparison.
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Specification